![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Random high school introspection
Jan. 16th, 2012 10:13 pmMaku demons. Emotion eaters who thrived on negative emotions. Generally short lived. Usually died by exploding.
The only difference when looking at one who had a human parent was when the explosion took place. If the pure ones died as early, there would be no more Maku. Not that anyone would miss them.
It should have been so simple and quick. The boy had been fourteen when she'd arrived. Following the pattern – and she'd been tracing the pattern for decades – she should have been there two weeks. Four at the most.
And yet, over a year later, here she was with her subject seemingly no closer to self-immolation. She'd had to rent an apartment, give detail to her ridiculous story about a mother who worked “long hours” in a nearby town, and continue going to high school.
Her subject – Nav, his name was Nav and she had to remember it while keeping up the charade – was in the lowest classes, not that she expected anything else. It was amazing that he was still in school. At least staying in those classes with him required no effort on her part. She rarely did homework – although she had to help him with his so he wouldn't fail out of school – and strategically answered just enough of her tests to pass. It drove the teachers crazy, but she had finished high school and several college degrees ages ago. Nothing being taught in this backwater, low socio-economic town was at all interesting.
A year and counting, and she was more excited than ever. She had been able to start more than one new line of inquiry; what kept him from destruction? and what a halfbreed approaching full maturity was like. Thus far, the first had a single word answer: Hawk.
Hawk was best friend, caretaker, and protector, and it seemed like the protection was keeping the emotions in check. Nav hadn't killed, and the first kill was the trigger for death. The idea fascinated her, and she'd taken the chance earlier that very day to test and monitor it for herself.
Some girl had been making rude and downright obscene comments about Hawk within earshot at lunch. Hawk, predictably, hadn't reacted, but she had felt Nav edging into high gear. So she had, before he could do anything, risen and let the girl have it. Sure enough, Nav had calmed.
Hawk hadn't. He'd looked at her like she was crazy, but she'd just raised a brow at him and gone back to eating. She didn't want to talk about it. She couldn't let them know how much she could feel off both of them. She couldn't let them know what she knew about Nav. And she certainly couldn't let them know how good it felt to reduce the idiot girl to horror and tears. Hawk was only human, only a human teenager, and didn't seem to have much magic. He was beneath her notice.
And yet, how dare the girl! How dare the uninterested, boring little statistic make comments about someone so much her better. Public humiliation was less than she deserved.
It was a relief to get “home” that afternoon. With the apartment well warded she could lower her own mental shields. Her head had quickly lowered to the table between the three of them so she wouldn't have to explain what was going on as she expanded her awareness and gently fed off the edges of her friends' emotions.
Nav was sulfurous, as half-Maku usually were. Acrid and ready to explode. There was a faint sweetness as well, something she hadn't tasted in any of the multitude of previous subjects. It was a taste she attributed to Hawk.
Hawk tasted of coffee and of metal, the metallic tang of copper and blood subtly overpowered by the dark, bitter drink. It was easy to sate herself on him. Everything he felt was strong, and if he'd been like Nav he probably wouldn't have made it past age ten. And there was so much – layers and gradations of emotion that Nav just didn't have.
She could even taste the reaction he hadn't shown at lunch. It was low-key and turned inward. An admonishment to work harder that she could recognize without words. Once again, her own anger flashed up in a way that it shouldn't when presented with a human.
“Dude, Hawk?” Nav's voice. Thinking he was being quiet without actually being quiet. “I think she's asleep. What do we do?”
She wasn't, and would have protested, except that Hawk's aura was suddenly all around her as he pushed her books away and tossed his coat over her. And, senses already open, she was flooded with the feel of him and it warmed her all the way through – the scent of coffee and the feel of being more protected than she had ever been before.
And there it was. Nav was her subject, but Hawk was her reason for staying. And she would protect that boy from the small minded gossips of the town. And she would keep the Alliance away from him, even if she had to destroy it to do so.
The only difference when looking at one who had a human parent was when the explosion took place. If the pure ones died as early, there would be no more Maku. Not that anyone would miss them.
It should have been so simple and quick. The boy had been fourteen when she'd arrived. Following the pattern – and she'd been tracing the pattern for decades – she should have been there two weeks. Four at the most.
And yet, over a year later, here she was with her subject seemingly no closer to self-immolation. She'd had to rent an apartment, give detail to her ridiculous story about a mother who worked “long hours” in a nearby town, and continue going to high school.
Her subject – Nav, his name was Nav and she had to remember it while keeping up the charade – was in the lowest classes, not that she expected anything else. It was amazing that he was still in school. At least staying in those classes with him required no effort on her part. She rarely did homework – although she had to help him with his so he wouldn't fail out of school – and strategically answered just enough of her tests to pass. It drove the teachers crazy, but she had finished high school and several college degrees ages ago. Nothing being taught in this backwater, low socio-economic town was at all interesting.
A year and counting, and she was more excited than ever. She had been able to start more than one new line of inquiry; what kept him from destruction? and what a halfbreed approaching full maturity was like. Thus far, the first had a single word answer: Hawk.
Hawk was best friend, caretaker, and protector, and it seemed like the protection was keeping the emotions in check. Nav hadn't killed, and the first kill was the trigger for death. The idea fascinated her, and she'd taken the chance earlier that very day to test and monitor it for herself.
Some girl had been making rude and downright obscene comments about Hawk within earshot at lunch. Hawk, predictably, hadn't reacted, but she had felt Nav edging into high gear. So she had, before he could do anything, risen and let the girl have it. Sure enough, Nav had calmed.
Hawk hadn't. He'd looked at her like she was crazy, but she'd just raised a brow at him and gone back to eating. She didn't want to talk about it. She couldn't let them know how much she could feel off both of them. She couldn't let them know what she knew about Nav. And she certainly couldn't let them know how good it felt to reduce the idiot girl to horror and tears. Hawk was only human, only a human teenager, and didn't seem to have much magic. He was beneath her notice.
And yet, how dare the girl! How dare the uninterested, boring little statistic make comments about someone so much her better. Public humiliation was less than she deserved.
It was a relief to get “home” that afternoon. With the apartment well warded she could lower her own mental shields. Her head had quickly lowered to the table between the three of them so she wouldn't have to explain what was going on as she expanded her awareness and gently fed off the edges of her friends' emotions.
Nav was sulfurous, as half-Maku usually were. Acrid and ready to explode. There was a faint sweetness as well, something she hadn't tasted in any of the multitude of previous subjects. It was a taste she attributed to Hawk.
Hawk tasted of coffee and of metal, the metallic tang of copper and blood subtly overpowered by the dark, bitter drink. It was easy to sate herself on him. Everything he felt was strong, and if he'd been like Nav he probably wouldn't have made it past age ten. And there was so much – layers and gradations of emotion that Nav just didn't have.
She could even taste the reaction he hadn't shown at lunch. It was low-key and turned inward. An admonishment to work harder that she could recognize without words. Once again, her own anger flashed up in a way that it shouldn't when presented with a human.
“Dude, Hawk?” Nav's voice. Thinking he was being quiet without actually being quiet. “I think she's asleep. What do we do?”
She wasn't, and would have protested, except that Hawk's aura was suddenly all around her as he pushed her books away and tossed his coat over her. And, senses already open, she was flooded with the feel of him and it warmed her all the way through – the scent of coffee and the feel of being more protected than she had ever been before.
And there it was. Nav was her subject, but Hawk was her reason for staying. And she would protect that boy from the small minded gossips of the town. And she would keep the Alliance away from him, even if she had to destroy it to do so.
